Health problems? You’re not alone

Just one in 20 individuals around the globe was without ailments in 2013 and a third of them encountered more than five health problems, according to a large scale analysis.

10.06.2015

(AFP) Just
one in 20 individuals around the globe was without ailments in 2013 and
a third of them encountered more than five health problems, according
to a large scale analysis.

It's the global effect of an aging population in developed
countries, coupled with a growing population in developing countries
where health is often suboptimum, according to the authors, who say the
worst is yet to come.

"Large, preventable causes of health loss, particularly serious
musculoskeletal disorders and mental and behavioral disorders, have not
received the attention that they deserve," says Theo Vos, lead author
and Professor of Global Health at the University of Washington, in the
US.

Their analysis is said to be the largest and most detailed
quantification of levels, patterns and trends in the domain of global
health between 1990 and 2013.

"Addressing these issues will require a shift in health priorities
around the world, not just to keep people alive into old age, but also
to keep them healthy," says Vos.

So what's ailing people?

Low back pain, depression, iron-deficiency anemia, neck pain and
age-related hearing loss represented the largest proportion of global
health problems during the period examined.

These very ailments have led the cause of health loss for the past 23 years, according to the research team.

Low back and neck pain, arthritis, depression, anxiety, drug and
alcohol use disorders accounted for nearly half of health loss in 2013,
according to the analysis.

Disability rates are declining slower than death rates according to
the analysis, which says global rates of diabetes have increased by 43
percent over the past 23 years, yet the rate of death from this
debilitating disease rose by just nine percent.

"The fact that mortality is declining faster than non-fatal disease
and injury prevalence is further evidence of the importance of paying
attention to the rising health loss from these leading causes of
disability, and not simply focusing on reducing mortality," says Vos.

Acute and chronic diseases

Health loss associated with diabetes has skyrocketed by 136 percent,
Alzheimer's disease is associated with a 92 percent increase in health
loss, and headache medication overuse is responsible for a 120 percent
health loss increase, according to the report.

The research team, who are collaborators on the 2013 Global Burden of
Disease Study, worked with 35,620 information sources from 188
countries with an eye to revealing the growing burden that 301 acute and
chronic diseases impose on healthcare.

They also analyzed the burden of 2,337 health consequences that result from these ailments and the research was published in the Lancet.